Free Republic

President Joe Biden grinned and stayed tight-lipped as reporters asked him Friday about what he was telling world leaders about the incoming Trump administration. Biden is in Lima, Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum and held a trilateral meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. After that, he met with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte.

Japan's Minister of Defence Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday defended Tokyo's plan to dispatch troops to Iraq as being in the country's national interest. "There is an argument in Japan that the Self-Defence Forces (SDFs) should not join the reconstruction of Iraq or the anti-terrorism fight," Defence Agency Director-General Shigeru Ishiba told an annual forum of Asia-Pacific defence policy figures. "Some political parties are advocating such a view for the upcoming elections" due on November 9, he added. The Japanese government and ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) "have been saying the SDF participation is possible" if it is within the bounds...